* {{cite book | last=Kennedy | first=Stanislaus |author-mask=2 | title=Finding peace | publisher=Columba Books | publication-place=Dublin | year=2021 | isbn=978-1-78218-381-5 | oclc=1263779201}}
* {{cite book | last=Kennedy | first=Stanislaus |author-mask=2 | title=Finding peace | publisher=Columba Books | publication-place=Dublin | year=2021 | isbn=978-1-78218-381-5 | oclc=1263779201}}
* {{cite book | last=Kennedy | first=Stanislaus |author-mask=2 | title=Finding hope | publisher=Columba Books | publication-place=Dublin | year=2023 | isbn=978-1-78218-396-9 | oclc=1355078363}}
* {{cite book | last=Kennedy | first=Stanislaus |author-mask=2 | title=Finding hope | publisher=Columba Books | publication-place=Dublin | year=2023 | isbn=978-1-78218-396-9 | oclc=1355078363}}
== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
== References ==
== References ==
Irish nun and activist (1939–2025)
Sister Stanislaus Kennedy (born Treasa Kennedy; 19 June 1939 – 3 November 2025), popularly known as Sister Stan, was an Irish nun, social activist and member of the Irish Council of State. She joined the Religious Sisters of Charity at age 18 and was mentored by Bishop Peter Birch who believed that the Catholic Church had to “identify more with the poor”. She graduated in social science from the University of Manchester. Sister Stan became best known as the founder of the homelessness charity Focus Ireland in 1985, but also initiated The Sanctuary, a centre for meditation and spirituality in the centre of Dublin, and in 2001 the Immigrant Council of Ireland. She authored several books.
Treasa Kennedy was born on 19 June 1939 near Lispole on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry,[1] the fourth of five siblings growing up on a small farm. Her parents spoke Irish when it was seen as a sign of being uneducated.[2] She described her childhood as carefree and remembered that she felt early that she wanted to help people less advantaged.[1] In 1958, she left home at age 18[1] to join the Religious Sisters of Charity[3] and was given the religious name “Sister Stanislaus”.[2][a] She was sent in the mid-1960s to Kilkenny to help Bishop Peter Birch;[2] they set up a network of social services including a meals on wheels program believed to have been one of the first in Ireland.[1] Birch was her mentor, passing his then controversial view that the Catholic Church had to “identify more with the poor”.[2] She moved to Dublin and attended University College Dublin, graduating with a social science degree in 1980. She later completed a master’s degree at the University of Manchester.[5]
Kennedy was the first chair of the Combat Poverty Agency.[1] In the late 1970s, while leading a task force on the issue, she was described by the Minister for Health, Charles Haughey, as “the most intransigent woman I’ve ever met”.[2] In 1985, she founded the charity Focus Ireland which is dedicated to finding housing for homeless people.[1][6] It became the largest voluntary organisation in Ireland.[7] In 2001, she also set up the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) as a response to the social needs of new immigrants living in Ireland.[1][8][9]
From 1995 to 2007, Kennedy was a member of the general leadership team of the Religious Sisters of Charity. In 1998 she founded The Sanctuary, a centre for meditation and spirituality in Dublin as a place for people “to explore and develop their inner world and wisdom and find stillness”.[5] In 2018, in response to protests against the congregation’s involvement in healthcare, she said that “The negativity is directed at nuns. Everything is thrown together, the orphanages, the Magdalene homes, the Tuam babies, Vincent’s hospital – it is all thrown together and mixed up, and it is all anti-nuns.”[10]
Kennedy was the author of six books published by Transworld Ireland, including her autobiography The Road Home which contains a foreword written by Mary McAleese.[3] Her 2023 book Finding Hope featured contributions from the Dalai Lama, Colum McCann and Orla Guerin and was dedicated to Charlie Bird.[10]
Kennedy was ill from 2017, but did not use the word cancer until 2020.[2][6] She was in hospice care.[1]
Kennedy died on 3 November 2025 at the age of 86. Following her death, President Michael D. Higgins said she was a “fearless advocate for human rights and equality”. Mary McAleese said: “All the things that she set up have a longevity because she forward planned. She’s left a phenomenal engine behind her.” The former Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, said he knew her as “a joyful, elderly nun, physically slowed down, intellectually, extraordinarily sharp”.[1][11]
In 1997, Kennedy was appointed by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, to the Council of State and served until 2004. In 2014, she was awarded the UCD Alumni Award for Social Sciences.[5] Kennedy received honorary doctorates from Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, the Open University and the Dublin City University (2017).[12][13]
